Back Pain

Back Pain Chiropractic Treatment El Dorado Hills

Located in El Dorado Hills, you can trust NorCal Spine & Sport for your Back Pain and Chiropratic Treatments

WHY DOES MY LOW BACK HURT?

The primary pain source for lower back pain is damage to the spinal disc. The discs in our lower backs are highly susceptible to injury because when we reach puberty we no longer receive any kind of a blood supply to the disc. Because of this scenario, when our discs are subjected to stress and strain type of forces they begin to break down faster than they can repair.

Therefore, joints and discs heal very different and more slowly than most tissue in our bodies. Why?

They have NO blood supply.

Our spinal discs consist of 90-100 rings of fibrocartilage (annulus fibrosis) that kind of looks like an onion. In the middle of the rings is a jelly-like substance called the “nucleus pulposus” which is roughly 80% water. A healthy disc gets its nutrition and hydration through the nucleus by way of diffusion (not blood flow) from the surrounding bone.

This diffusion mechanism is performed in two ways: 1) Osmosis 2) Motion

Osmosis is a process in which fluid will move from an area of low concentration to an area of high concentration. The healthy disc will have a strong osmotic force drawing fluid and nutrients from the surrounding circulation in the bone, through the nucleus, and to the rest of the disc. Thus, creating a well hydrated and nourished environment inside the disc.

Motion at each spinal segment creates nutrient delivery to the disc by mechanically pumping fluid into the disc. Every time we take a step our spine undergoes a compression- decompression cycle like an accordion. A positive and negative pressure occurs daily so that our discs can absorb from the surrounding fluid and gain access to the nutrients that keep it healthy.

Both methods that your disc uses to get nutrition (osmosis and motion) are reduced or eliminated by disc degeneration and herniation. In disc degeneration, the nucleus dries up (no water) and compresses. With no water, the nucleus cannot create enough osmotic force to diffuse the nutrients.

In disc herniation (tearing), the nucleus leaks into the surrounding annulus (often creating a bulge) and loses pressure and osmotic forces, thereby diminishing the nutrients to the disc. As you can see, once this process begins, it can quickly become a degenerative cycle, starving and dehydrating your disc. These injuries to the discs and joints may lead to pain, reduced motion, sciatica (pinched nerves), etc.

RATE OF BREAKDOWN VS. RATE OF REPAIR: This concept is key to understanding how we develop injuries to the tissues in our bodies. Let’s explore the bicep muscle for example. If one was to go to the gym and work out the bicep muscle everyday 7 days a week they would eventually injure the muscle tissue. After a workout our muscles need 48-72 hours in order to repair. Without the rest between workouts they will eventually fail and the muscle tissue will actually tear. It is no different for the discs in our lower backs. The more we strain the discs in our lower backs, the faster they will wear out and become injured, damaged tissue. Here’s a question:

DO YOU SIT TOO MUCH EVERYDAY?

Prolonged sitting is one of the most common ways for people to be on the wrong side of the rate of breakdown vs. rate of repair equation. Sitting and leaning forward increases the pressure bearing down on our lower back discs by 11 fold. Therefore, sitting at your desk 5 days a week 4-8 hours per day accelerates the rate at which your spinal discs breakdown or become injured. Other common ways to strain the discs in the lower back include: improper exercise technique, improper lifting, repetitive twisting movements and high impact activities.

IMPROVING THE RATE OF REPAIR:

It’s all about delivering nutrients and water to the disc. Because our discs do not receive any blood, it is imperative we take measures to deliver more nutrients and water to the discs in our lower backs. The most obvious place to start is to eliminate the variables that are causing the insult to the disc. For example, as mentioned above if you are used to sitting at your desk for hours on end, make sure you get up every 20-30 minutes-your back will love you for it. Cardiovascular exercise is also another major way to improve the delivery of nutrients and water to the discs. Cardiovascular exercise will actually help the discs receive the vital nutrients it needs to stay healthy.

WHY IS LOW BACK PAIN SO PREVALENT?

The effects of gravity make the discs in our low backs highly susceptible to injury: When we lay on our backs with our knees up we are in the best position for the discs in our low backs. This position is good for our low backs because it is a non-weight bearing position and is not under the force of gravity. When we stand we increase the pressure in our discs 4 fold and when we sit and lean forward the pressure in our discs increases 11 fold!!! All of this pressure can add up over time and can lead to disc herniations causing low back and leg pain and debilitation.

TO UNDERSTAND LOW BACK PAIN YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE DISCS IN YOUR SPINE

The discs in your spine are very pain sensitive, some researchers assert they are the most pain sensitive structures in the lumbar spine. (17) The discs are a pad of thick collagen tissue called fibrocartilage between your vertebrae and contain a chemical called glycosaminoglycan which absorbs fluids to nine times its own volume. The inner most part of the disc is composed of 80% glycosaminoglycan and is normally 80% water filled. This high fluid content increases the pressure within the disc and acts to separate each bone in your spine. The disc acts as a shock absorber and pivot between each vertebral segment upon which they move. If it were not for the discs in your spine, the vertebrae would be one solid bone with no movement. The discs are the root cause of most lower back problems, therefore the health of the disc is vital to the well-being of the lower back.

Activities that create stress and strain to the lumbar disc include:

Sitting

Poor posture

Bending

Lifting

Twisting

Prolonged standing

Sleeping on your stomach

Improper exercise technique

Imbalanced and weak core muscles

Far too often we have imbalances and weakness in the muscles that are made to stabilize our lumbar spines. The spine is a unique structure, in that, it must be a hard, rigid structure to protect the spinal cord and associated nerves while at the same time being flexible for proper trunk movement. This takes careful fine tuning from the brain and innermost (core) muscles in our lower backs that function to coordinate the movements in our spines. When we become deconditioned (from sitting too much) the body responds by basically getting lazy and recruiting only the “big” muscles that are easy to recruit.

TREATMENT SOLUTIONS

Increase Nutrition to the Disc

Exercise (Cardio and Core): Increased motion and strength of the spine and vascular system will stimulate nutrient flow and prevent further injury of the disc.

Stretch: Flexibility of the spine allows it to move more freely and takes pressure off of the areas of the spine that are being compressed.

Chiropractic Adjustments: Restore and maintain proper joint and disc motion. Remember, loss of motion is the #1 reason for joint and disc degeneration.

Traction / Flexion-Distraction (decompression of the disc): This form of treatment has been shown to 1) Increase the intervertebral disc space height (reducing compression), 2) Create a negative pressure within the disc ( this causes a centripetal suction affect within the disc which will: a) increase diffusion of nutrients b) reduce the bulging disc back towards the center thereby taking pressure off the nerves) and 3) Increase the intervertebral foraminal area up to 28% (again reducing pressure on the discs and nerves)